Which command do you use to make a variable available to child processes in UNIX?

Answer 1

The exact syntax varies by shell but generally will look like this:

ksh: var="value" - scoped within the script
ksh: export var="value" - so you don't lose scope

sh: var="value" - scoped within the script
sh: var="value" ; export var - so you don't lose scope

Answer 2

In Korn Shell, you would normally just issue this statement (as an example):

export DEFAULT_PRINTER="LP12"

or in two statements:

DEFAULT_PRINTER="LP12"
export DEFAULT_PRINTER